


button eyes

by knorachaa3



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Coraline AU, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-22
Updated: 2018-07-01
Packaged: 2019-05-10 00:28:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14726511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/knorachaa3/pseuds/knorachaa3
Summary: Felix moves in with his close friends, Woojin and Chan, when he comes from Australia to Korea, and he is bored in the new home until he discovers a secret door that leads him into a world that's just like his own... but better... A new neighbor, Changbin, attempts to warn him about the door because he knows of the dangers the lie behind it. The world behind the door seems much better to Felix until his adventure turns dangerous and he needs to count on his resourcefulness and bravery to get home.





	1. || prologue ||

**Author's Note:**

> This AU will be broken into chapters, and it is based on the 2009 film "Coraline". Enjoy!
> 
> *Please check out my other fic, "Small Things" by knorachaa3*

A button-eyed doll floats through the open windows of a small sewing room. The doll, resembling a boy with a happy expression and a beautiful smile, lands in a pair of waiting hands. 

Hands that are made of sewing needles.

On the doll, a name tag reads  _"Yang Jeongin"_. The hands place the doll on a sewing table next to an elaborate sewing kit, and in flickering green light, the needle-hands go to work. The doll is stripped of its old clothes, button eyes are taken off, and hair pulled out. The hands meticulously take the old stuffing out and pull the cloth body inside out. Sawdust is poured into the doll, facial features added, brown hair punched in, and freckles were half-heartedly drawn on. The hands select a pair of new shiny black buttons from a button drawer and sew them onto the doll. 

The transformed doll, in a small yellow raincoat, new button eyes affixed, is sent back through the window and into the dark night.

* * *

A rambling Queen Anne-style house sat in a small, isolated valley. Outside stairs are tacked on, creaking with the late winter breeze. The sky, a damp, grey sponge, hung over the house. 

A man called J.Y. Park stood atop on the balcony of the house. A tired moving van followed by a yellow cab pulled up into the muddy driveway. The moving van opened first, and Chan and Woojin stepped out. Woojin and Chan, university students who just so happened to be dating each other, had decided to move in and split the rent in the "Pink Palace", as it was called, and they would also be living with Felix. Felix was their close friend who had just come from Sydney, Australia, to move in with Chan and Woojin because he needed a place to stay in Korea. Apparently, two people had already occupied the lower flat of the Pink Palace, and this "J. Y. Park" occupied the upper flat, so Felix, Chan, and Woojin would get the largest, most home-like part of the house. Chan and Woojin were already arranging inside by the time Felix had stepped outside. 

Felix, brown hair, freckles, and a yellow raincoat, haphazardly handed the cab driver money before he took his suitcases and left them on the porch. A mangy, black cat watched the boy from afar. As eager as Felix was to see Chan and Woojin, Felix hopped down the steps and headed diagonally away from the house. The cat watched as Felix stopped by the garden gate, reached into a shrub, and broke off a forked branch. Picking off the red leaves, Felix held the branch like a dowsing rod and headed in the garden. 

From afar, another boy watched Felix. The boy, who wore a three-eyed skeleton mask and matching skeleton gloves, hid behind a shrub and made eye contact with the cat. 

Felix found an old turtle shell in the much of the drained, crumbling pond, and he put it into his bag before picking up the "dowsing rod" branch. With the branch, he aimed it past the pond and towards the back gate.

A storm was gathering, and the boy who was spying on Felix was still following Felix along with the cat. Felix was stepping down on a steep hillside path as the spy-boy dislodged some stones to keep Felix in view. With the movement of the rocks, some tumbled down towards Felix's boots.

"Hello?" Felix called, seemingly unafraid. "Who's there?" Felix picked up a rock that had tumbled to his feet, and shrugging, he tossed it towards the shrub that it had come from.

"OW!" A cry of pain came from behind the bush, making Felix sprint up the trail, past an old tractor, and into an orchard. The cat still followed closeby. Felix tripped on the tongue of a harvest cart, right by some apple trees. He obliviously backed into a circle of toadstools in front of a stump and sat down, the "magic" branch dowsing rod still clasped in between his fingers. The black cat shot through the tall grass by Felix. He couldn't see the cat, but he knew something was there. Already behind him, the cat leaped in front of Felix with a loud, warning  _meow._  

Felix gasped, before setting his hands on his hips. "You scared me to death, you mangy thing!"

The cat glared at Felix with blue opal eyes, making a low growl as Felix stood up.

"Not talking, huh?"

The cat blinked slowly.

The wind picks up, and Felix holds up the branch. "Magic dowser, magic dowser: show... me... the  _well_ !" 

On some type of motorbike, the boy spying on Felix blasted a loud air horn. Felix, startled, spun around and caught his first glimpse of the spy. With his turret-lensed skull mask and skeleton gloves and dark gray fireman's coat, he looked like a psycho killer!

" _Ahhhh!_ " Felix hollered in fear as the spy revved his motor and sped down the bluff towards him. As he passes by, he snatched the branch from Felix, hopped off the bike, and jumped onto the stump. Looking down at Felix from the stump, he turned his turret lens and studied Felix's face before taking off the mask.  _Oh_ , Felix thought.  _It's just a short dude in a costume._

Shoulders slightly hunched, the revealed "spy" examined Felix's branch in his gloved hands, turning and spinning it around. "Hoo! Let me guess, you're from somewhere dried out and barren, right? I heard about water-dowsing before but it just doesn't make sense. I mean- it's just an ordinary branch."

Felix snatched the rod from the spy's hands. "It's a dowsing rod!" he corrected, enraged. He hit the spy lightly. 

"Ow!" the spy cried. 

"And I  _don't_ like being stalked by psycho-nerds or their cats!"

The spy crouched and nervously pet the cat behind the ears. "He's not really  _my_ cat; he's kinda feral- you know,  _wild_? Of course, I do feed him every night and sometimes he'll come in my window and bring me little dead things."

Felix straightened his back, acting tough. "Look, I'm from Sydney."

"Huh?"

" _Australia_. And if I'm a magical water-dowsing wizard, then where is this well?" Felix pointed the stick and stomped. 

"If you stomp too hard you'll  _fall_ into it!"

Felix jumped out of the toadstool circle, just realizing that he was standing right on top of it. The spy stepped forward and scraped at the ground, revealing a circular covering made of wooden planks. He wedged a fallen branch under the side and propped the covering open.

"See? It's supposed to be so deep that if you fell into it, you would see a sky full of stars in the middle of the day."

Felix's expression softened a bit. "Huh." The black cat tilts his head, noticing the change in Felix's tone. The spy closed the well.

"I'm surprised she let you move in," the spy stated, tilting his head towards the Pink Palace. "My aunt owns the Pink Palace. Won't rent to people at or around your age."

"What do you mean?"

"I, uh- I'm not supposed to talk about it." He paused a while, trying to change the subject. He held up his gloved hand towards Felix. "I'm Binnie, Seo Binnie."

"Binnie?"

"Short for Changbin. Not my idea, of course. What'd you get saddled with?"

"I wasn't saddled with anything. It's Felix."

"Felix what?"

"Felix Lee. Lee Felix. Whatever."

A voice in the distance called. "Changbin!"

"I think someone's calling you," Felix squinted. 

"What? I didn't hear anything."

"Oh, I  _definitely_ know you heard someone,  _trash bin_."

"Changbin!" the voice called once again.

Binnie turned his head, looking around. "It's my aunt." He held up his hands in surrender and forced some laughs. 

"Heh. Well, great to meet an Australian water-dousing wizard," Binnie shrugged, picking up and wheeling around his motorbike. "But I'd wear gloves next time."

"Why?"

"'Cause that dowsing rod of yours? Uh, it's poison oak." Binnie zoomed away as Felix sighed, wiping his hands on his clothes. Before leaving, Felix found and dropped a pebble down a small hole in the covering of the well, counting until he heard a small watery  _plop_.

* * *

Felix placed packs of seeds against the window, rain pouring. The main floor kitchen, like most of the things in the Pink Palace, was barely maintained and looked worn and faded. Chan sat at the table, half-awake, banging at the keyboard of his laptop. Felix had talked to Chan and Woojin the previous day when they had brought all of their belongings into the Pink Palace, but Chan and Woojin seemed as worn-out and tired as ever, so Felix decided to wait until they would feel more energetic in order for them to catch up on everything that had happened since Felix left for Sydney. 

"I almost fell down a well yesterday, Chan."

"Uh huh."

"I would have died."

"That's nice." It was clear that Chan wasn't listening. 

Felix itched at the rash on his hand. "Hmmm. So can we go out? I was thinking that its perfect weather for gardening."

"No, Felix. Rain makes mud, and mud makes a mess."

"But Chan, I want things  _growing_ when my friends come to visit. Isn't that one of the reasons we moved here along with you and Woojin continuing studies while splitting rent?"

"Something like that."

Felix slouched down at the table next to Chan. "I can't believe you and Woojin study to write about plants and you guys hate dirt."

Chan stopped typing, losing his patience. "Sorry Felix, but I can't talk right now. And  _you_ still have unpacking to do.  _Lots_ of unpacking."

"That sounds exciting." Felix rolled his eyes. 

"Oh wait," Chan remembered. "Some dude left this on the porch." Chan handed Felix a newspaper-wrapped package. The attached note read:  _"Hey Felix. Look what I found in my aunt's trunk. Look familiar? Binnie."_ Felix ripped the package open and found the button-eyed, brown-haired, yellow raincoat-wearing doll - it's a little Felix!

Felix mumbled to himself. "Huh. A little me...? That's weird." He crumpled the note, annoyed yet charmed. 

"What's his name anyway?" Chan asked.

"Binnie. And I'm way too old for dolls." Felix takes it with him and leaves the room. 

* * *

Woojin sat at his desk in the new study room of the Pink Palace, typing away at his monitor. Surrounded by boxes with piles of gardening magazines strewn on top along with empty coffee cups, he looked like the epitome of a sleep-deprived university student. Which he was. 

"Hey, Wooj. How's the writing going?" Felix asked, opening the squeaky door with the doll in his hand. 

Felix doubts Woojin hears him before Woojin responds slowly as he keeps typing. "Hey... Felix..... and Felix... doll...?"

Felix persists. "Do you know where the gardening tools are?"

A silence, filled with the distant sounds of pouring rain. "It's pouring out there, isn't it?"

"Humph. It's just raining."

"What'd the boss say?"

Felix jokingly held up the doll, mimicking a higher voice. "Don't even  _think_ about going out, Yongbok!"

"Then you won't need the tools."

Felix groaned, stomping his feet. Woojin continued to type, slamming the keys increasingly louder and louder. Felix pouted, opening and closing the squeaky door until Woojin spins around in his chair. 

"You know that this house is a hundred and fifty years old, right?" Woojin questions.

"Yeah?"

"So explore it!" Woojin grabbed a pen and pad from the top of one of the moving boxes.

"Go out and... count all the doors and windows and write that down. List everything blue! Please just... let me work for a bit, okay?"

Felix accepts the pen and pad and he leaves the study, rolling his eyes for what seemed like the hundredth time today alone. Heading out into the side room first, he jots down his first observations.  _7 really leaky windows._ Pounding up the stairs, he wandered into Chan's bedroom, passing a photo of himself, Chan, and Woojin from a long time ago, the three of them smiling with their arms around each other. Felix pulled away from the shower curtain, revealing silverfish bugs skittering on the shower walls. 

"Disgusting!" he exclaimed, as he slid off one of his boots and smashed as many as possible. He took the boot towards the sink, and disgusted, he watched as the water ran over the boot, taking the silverfish guts with it.  _Sorry Chan,_ he thought.  _Now there's probably silverfish guts in your bathroom sink._

Felix slid the boot back on, and he jumped back downstairs, spotting a closet. He wrote down:  _one rusty water heater_ before flicking off the light switch of the closet. 

But the switch that Felix flicked wasn't quite the light switch; Woojin's mumbling turned into hollering. "No. No, no, no, no, no. NOOOOOOOOO!" The lights had flickered, and Woojin's computer died, discarding the whole report he was working on. Guilty, Felix runs back into the closet, spotting a note by the "light switch" that read:  _Do not turn off._ Felix flipped it back the right way and ran back out into the living room. The room was faded, windows out looking the rain and the scenery just plain grey. The floor was strewn with Chan and Woojin's boxes of belongings. A cardboard mattress box leaned on one wall and a few gardening tools on the other. 

Felix counted the windows and doors to note in the notepad. He placed the doll on a low table by an open box. Looking into the box, he smiled. A bunch of house decor items, snow globes, statuettes, and small objects laid in the box. Felix scooped up a statuette etched with "SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA" and he placed it on the fireplace mantel. He unwrapped and placed the rest of the snow globes by the statuette. Over the mantel hung a painting of a crying boy in blue, holding an empty cone with a scoop of ice cream melting on his shirt. 

Felix takes note of the peculiar painting, writing it in the notepad. "One boring blue boy in a painfully boring painting... four incredibly boring windows... and no... more... doors." He turned around to grab the doll off of the low table by the box, but he spotted that it was gone. 

"All right, little me. Where are you hiding?"

As he scanned the room, he finally spotted it peeking out from behind the mattress box leaned against the wall. He walked over and kneeled down to pick up the doll before he noticed something on the wall behind the box. He moved the box aside and discovered the outline of a small door, in which it had been wallpapered over. 

"Hey, Chan!" Felix called into the kitchen. "Where does this door go?"

Chan took a while to respond. "Sorry Fe! I'm really, really busy!"

Felix tried to open it, but there was no handle. "I think it's locked." Staring between the door and the doll, he called again. "Pleeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaasseeee!"

Chan sighed as he marched over to Felix and looked at the small door. "Will you stop bothering me for a bit if I do this for you?" Felix nodded eagerly. Chan went back into a kitchen, opened a drawer, and pushed a bunch of brass and nickel keys until he spotted a small, sharp black key. Going back to the door, he cuts around the wallpaper with the sharp part of the key. He stuck the key in, and with anticipation, Felix's eyes widened. 

Opening it slowly, Chan revealed...

_An unbroken brick wall._

"Bricks? I don't get it," Felix mumbled as he scratched his rashed hand in annoyance. 

Chan got up to go back into the kitchen. "They must have closed this up when they divided the house, probably."

"You're kidding? And why is the door so small?"

"Sorry, we made a deal, Fe. Now please let me finish my report."

Felix pushed the door shut, his head lowered. 

 


	2. one: || parallels ||

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felix has a dream... yet no one believes him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I am so sorry for infrequent updates here on "button eyes"... I was busy with my school finals and I was focused on getting "Small Things" updated. Now that I'm out for summer break, I will try my best to get this updated regularly!
> 
> Enjoy~ ^^

It was dinner time, and Felix sat at the table. He was hoping to start a conversation with Chan and Woojin, but they still looked exhausted and he didn't want to bother them too much. Woojin pulled a slightly burned casserole out of the oven, and Chan closed his laptop. The doll was placed on a chair next to Felix. Felix's eye twitched as he looked at the casserole that was set in front of him.

Felix took a whiff and looked around. "Why don't you cook next time, Chan?"

"I clean and Woojin cooks, Fe. We can go food shopping when we finish the reports and the catalog." 

Sighing, Felix dug his fork into the casserole.

* * *

Washed and dressed for bed, Felix fell back into his bed. It was still raining outside, and Felix scratched at his rash. Despite Felix's efforts at decorating, his room still felt small and cold, cracked and faded. Origami dragonflies were strung across the bed posts, the empty turtle shell he had found was sitting atop a box, and his night lamp was projecting stars and moons on the ceiling. Felix reaches for a photo in a frame near a toy praying mantis by his night lamp. It's a picture of his two friends back in Sydney, posing in front of the school marquee. The marquee's letters were arranged to spell out "Felix, goodbye!".

Felix touched the photo lightly with his fingertips. "Don't forget me, guys. Okay?" He placed the photo back and flipped the light switch. "Good night, little me." He waved to the doll before turning over in his bed. His breathing slowed, and he fell asleep with the doll watching him.

* * *

Surreal mist swirled outside the window, and moons and stars from the night lamp slowly move across the walls.

 _t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t_... Something was chittering below Felix's bed. His eyes flickered open, and he leaned over his bedside head first to peer under the bed. A ghost-white mouse jumped out and bounded out the door. Felix quickly hopped up from the bed and chased the mouse down the upper hall, down the stairs, and into the living room. Looking around the living room, Felix spotted the mouse hop out frantically from beneath the sofa and towards the small door. Felix grabbed the door's edge and pulled it open.

A dark, expanding tunnel stretched out, instead of the brick wall, and the hopping mouse headed towards a bluish light at the far end. 

"Whoa..." Felix caught his breath, pulled the door open, and proceeded to crawl through. He stepped out through another small door into the exact,  _same_ living room he had just left, but only  _something_ is different; it seemed deeper... more dimensional. He looked around, noticing the painting over the fireplace; the crying blue boy was smiling with his ice cream back in the cone and his shirt clean. From across the hall, a warm light came from the kitchen and the smell of delicious food lured Felix.

He stumbled into the kitchen to see Chan at the stove, decked out with an apron and rooster-head oven mitts. The light and colors gave the kitchen a warmer atmosphere, and the details were much more perfect than the  _other_ kitchen. "Chan?! What are you doing here in the middle of the night?"

Chan turned around to greet Felix, and Felix was absolutely dumbstruck:  _Chan had buttons for eyes._ He beamed with happiness for Felix's arrival. "You're just in time for supper, Felix!"

" _You're_ not Chan. The Chan that  _I_ know doesn't have bu-b-"

"Buttons? Do you like them? I'm the  _other_ Chan, Felix. Now go tell the  _other_ Woojin that supper is ready." Chan opened the oven, and the intoxicating perfume of cooking filled the air. Felix breathed in, suddenly  _very_ hungry. 

Chan smiled back at Felix. "Well go on, he's in his study."

Felix went down the hall and opened the study door. He saw the back of a boy, just like Woojin, but instead of typing away at a computer, he was picking notes on a baby grand piano. 

"Hello?" Felix mumbled. "Woojin" turned around, but he  _too_ had buttons for eyes. He seemed  _way_ happier, and he wore an iridescent robe over polka dot pajamas with orange monkey slippers on his feet.  _Something that the real Woojin would never, ever dare to wear._

"Hey, Felix! Do you want to hear what I've been working on?"

Felix tilted his head. "The  _real_ Woojin doesn't have time to play the piano."

"Well, this is different. This piano plays me!" Gloves connected with rods and pulleys popped out of the piano's front and onto the other Woojin's hands. His hands raised up and then dropped down to play pounding chords as the other Woojin sang out.

"Making up a song about Fe-lix~

He's a peach, he's a doll, he's a pal of mine

He's as handsome as a button in the eyes of everyone who ever laid their eyes on Fe-lix"...

Felix watched, amazed as Woojin's hands flew and pressed the keys perfectly.

"When he comes around exploring

Chan and I will never make it boring

Our eyes will be on Fe-lix!"

Felix poked him anxiously to stop him. "I, um- sorry, but  _he_ said to tell you that the food is ready."

"Mmmm, who's starving! Raise your hand!" The other Woojin chuckled as he raised his gloved hand, but his other gloved hand slapped his face.

Felix laughed before covering his mouth.

* * *

Chan set down a huge, roasted chicken near Felix on a table spread with candles, fine china and silver, and a pineapple centerpiece. Figure eight model train tracks circled twin lazy susans covered in dishes upon dishes of potatoes, tteokbokki, gimbap, and bulgogi.

The other Woojin dug in as Felix tried the chicken. "Wow, this is great!"

"Hungry, aren't you?" Chan leaned his head onto his hand, elbow propped up on the table. 

Felix nodded, his mouth full. "D'you have any kimchi?" Chan giggled as a model train circled the track, pulling a kimchi boat car and blowing its whistle. The train lined up with Felix's plate and gently dropped a generous amount of kimchi on Felix's plate. Chan looked on approvingly, not touching any of the food himself.

"Any requests for drinks?" Chan asked, watching Felix eat.

"Mango milkshake?"

A drink dispenser chandelier descended, spun, and filled Felix's glass with a mango milkshake.  _This was too perfect to be real._ Chan stood up and retrieved a box from a side table. A dessert: a candle with candles that popped up and lighted themselves while the words "WELCOME HOME" wrote themselves in icing. Felix was absolutely taken aback. Other Chan and other Woojin squeezed each other's hands warmly. 

Chan tilted his head towards Woojin. "We've been waiting for you, Felix."

"For me?"

Woojin stepped forward. "Yup, it wasn't the same without you here."

Felix still remained unsure. "I didn't know I had _"other_ _"_   friends..."

Chan smiled, his button eyes gleaming. "Of course you do.  _Everyone_ does."

"Really?"

"Uh huh, and soon as you're through eating, I thought we'd play a  _game_." Chan tapped his fingers a little too excitedly on the table. 

Felix was skeptical. "You mean like... hide and seek?"

Chan held up a finger. "Ooh! How about hide and seek  _in the rain_?"

"What rain?"

Thunder, lightning, and rain appeared outside the window.

"What about the mud?" Felix looked around.

Woojin chuckled. "We love mud here!"

Chan stepped towards Felix, even closer. "Mud facials, mud baths, mud pies- it's  _great_ for poison oak."

Chan grabbed Felix's rashy hand, and Felix pulled away. "How'd you kno-" He stopped and adjusted his tone. "I, I'd love to play but I have to get back to the other Chan."

"But  _I am_ the  _other_ Chan."

"I mean the  _other_ , other Chan. The real one? I think... I think I should get to bed."

Chan spoke quietly. "Of course, Fe, it's all made up."

"But..."

Other Woojin stepped beside Felix. "Let's go, sleepyhead." They led Felix toward the stairs to his bedroom. In this world, his bedroom was a dream come true; there's a fire in the fireplace, a sheer canopy draped over his bed and his favorite belongings... they were alive! Origami dragonflies fluttered towards him, his blue squid waved to him, and the turtle shell he had found circled his feet with clothespins for feet. He laughed and then heard two voices from his bed.

"Oi, Felix! How's it goin'?"

"Felix! Where are ya' best bibs and tuckers?"

Felix grinned as he grabbed the frame with his two friends from Sydney. "My best mates! How ya' goin? I can't wait until summer, you're both comin', right?"

"We're already here, Felix!"

Felix smiled hugely, exhausted. He laid down and stretched his arms, setting the frame back on the nightstand. 

"Oh, the mud." Felix watched as the other Chan took his hand and applied some soothing black mud to his poison oak rash. 

"See you soon..." The two of them said in unison as they watched Felix drift off into a deep sleep...

* * *

Felix awoke, expecting the same bright colors and magic dragonflies.. but instead, it's just his normal room. Moving boxes, cracks in the ceiling; nothing has changed. He notices the button-eyed doll in the chair where the other Chan was sitting previously. Felix got up, picked the doll up and absentmindedly touched his hand.

Gasping, he noticed that his hand was back to normal. "It's gone, the poison oak- it's  _gone_!" Felix sprinted down to the little door, still ajar, but only to find it closed with bricks again. He shook his head and pushed the door shut as the kettle blew from the kitchen. 

Breakfast. Chan and Woojin were preoccupied with their mugs of coffee and nature newspapers. They half-listened to Felix, who was recounting his dream, breakfast untouched. 

"It was incredibly real, Chan! Only you weren't really  _you_ ; you were the  _other_ Chan."

Chan pointed towards Felix's food. "Buttons for eyes, huh? Felix, you only  _dreamed_ you ate that much chicken."

Woojin looked up from his newspaper. "What? Chicken?"

Felix continued. "You were in the dream too, Wooj. You had wild-looking pajamas and orange monkey slippers."

Woojin pretended to be offended. "Orange?  _My_ monkey slippers are blue." Woojin stood up, put his dishes away, and marched out of the kitchen.

Chan looked upwards, and then towards Felix. "Fe, why don't you go downstairs? I bet those stage dance performers would love to hear your dream."

"Minho and Hyunjin?"

"Uh huh."

* * *

It was drizzling and white fog had lowered over the house and grounds. Felix stepped out, yellow rain poncho draped over his shoulders, gardening shears in his hand. He tripped over a big bundle of mail. Annoyed, he picked up the stack and leafed through it. 

All the envelopes read the same name. "J. Y. Park... J. Y. Park... J. Y. Park..." Something smelled bad from the envelopes, but Felix tried his best not to smell any more of it than he needed to. He spotted a sign that pointed to the winding stairs to the higher level of the Pink Palace. The sign read:  _J. Y. Park there._ Shrugging, Felix went up.

He knocked on the door. "Hello?... I think our mail got mixed up... Should I leave it outside or..." The door swung open, and Felix peeked inside: it's dark and cramped with something boiling on a stove and a caged chicken.

Suddenly, a man swung down behind Felix and scolded. " _SECRET!_ " The unhappy man swung past Felix and shut the door. "Famous Jumping Mouse Circus  _not_ ready, boy!"

"Circus?" Felix tilted his head. "Oh, uh, I brought this for you."

The man snatched the package from Felix's hands and took a deep whiff of the envelopes. "Mmm... they're new cheese samples." He swung down again and stood beside Felix on the balcony. "Very clever... using this "mix up" to sneak my home and peek at the mice."

"Oh... sorry?... I'm Lee Felix."

"And I am the amazing J. Y. Park! But you can call me Mr. P because amazing I already know that I am." Mr. P practically cartwheeled off the third story porch, but mysteriously appeared back at Felix's side. "Ha! You see, Felix, the problem is that my new songs go  _oompah oompah_. But the jumping mice play only toodle toot, like that. Is nice, but not so much amazing? So now I will switch to better cheese... and then,  _watch out!_ "

Mr. P opened his door, crouched down, and then turned back around, pulling a beet from a box by his door and holding it out to Felix. "Here, have beet. Make you strong. Bye, now!" Mr. P slammed the door, and Felix looked at the beet in his hand before scowling and throwing it off the balcony.

He headed back down the stairs before he heard a voice. "Felix, wait! The mice told me to give you message."

"The... jumping mice?"

Mr. B nodded gravely and leaned toward Felix, whispering gravely. "They are saying: Do not go through little door. Do you know such a thing?"

Felix was startled. "The one behind the wallpaper? It's all bricked up."

Mr. B shrugged. "Bah. So sorry, is nothing. Sometimes the mice are a little... mixed up sometimes, hmmm? Maybe I work them too hard..." He walked back up the stairs and Felix watched him until he was no longer in sight. 

* * *

Felix approached one of the suitcases he had left on the porch. He opened it carefully and took out his special hat: a black Japanese schoolboy's cap. He headed around the house to the left side where the steps led down to the basement flat. He tried the knocker on the door and waited. Nothing. He glanced down at the doormat, reading "No Whistling In The House". He peered through the glass door, startled by a yapping dog who lept up inside. A moment later, Hyunjin, wearing silk loungewear, opened the door and three small terriers surrounded Felix.

Hyunjin beckoned the dogs back in. "Oh, Kami, cease your eternal yapping! How nice to see you, Felix! Would you like to come in? Minho! Put the kettle on!" Hyunjin led Felix into the living room as Minho prepared drinks in the kitchen to the side. The dogs raced ahead and jumped onto the sofa. Felix scanned the walls to see posters of the two, Minho and Hyunjin, taking part in many different dance performances and shows. 

Hyunjin showed Felix to Minho. "It's the new neighbor, Minho. He'll be having Coke."

Minho shook his head. "Ahh, no, no, no, no. I'm sure he'd rather prefer some tea at a time like this."

"No, Coke."

"Tea, it is."

A few minutes later, Felix is seated on the sofa, and Minho arrived with a tea tray and a cupful of candy. "Oh go on, have one. It's hand-pulled yeot from Chungju." Felix reached for a pink and green colored one, but it is so peculiarly sticky that both of his hands eventually got stuck. He finally got it unstuck, but the candy bowl flew up and stuck to the ceiling. Felix tried some of the tea as he tried to forget about the candy.

Hyunjin turned to Felix. "Would you like me to read them?"

"Read what?"

"Your tea leaves, Felix. They tell your future. Drink up then."

Felix drank some of the tea and handed it to Hyunjin. Hyunjin gently placed a saucer on top of the cup, swirled it three times, and peered at the abstract leaf pattern. "Oh... Felix, Felix, Felix; you are in terrible danger."

Minho took the cup from Hyunjin. "Oh... not to worry, Felix. The tea leaves tell  _me_ that there is love in plain sight!" 

Hyunjin sighed. "Minho! You're holding it totally wrong." Hyunjin rotated the cup. "See, look; danger, I see a very peculiar hand..."

Minho took the cup again and rotated it his way. " _I_ see a giraffe."

"Giraffes don't just fall from the sky, Minho," Hyunjin spoke just as the candy that was stuck on the ceiling crashed to the floor.

Felix blinked suspiciously towards the performers. "Well, what should I do?"

Hyunjin picked Kami's dog hair off his silk shirt. "Never wear green in your dressing room."

Minho nodded. "Acquire a very tall step ladder."

Hyunjin stood up to get the fallen candy. "And be very, very careful. Anyways, was there something that you came to tell us?"

Felix thought it over and then shook his head. "No, I guess not. Thanks for the tea." He got up as the dogs immediately took his spot on the sofa. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


	3. two: || realization ||

Felix climbed back up the stairs to ground level, still intrigued by his fortune.

" _Danger..._ "

Behind him, a periscope rose from the waist-deep fog, and Felix saw it from his peripheral vision. He frowned but didn't let on that he was aware of it. He walked on, nonchalantly, as the periscope followed him. Suddenly, Felix turned, grabbed the periscope, pulled up Binnie, and punched him in the arm.

"Ow!" Changbin yelped.

"Great. The village _stalker._ "

"Ow, and I wasn't stalking _you_. We're hunting for worms."

Felix scratched his head. "What do you mean, ' _we_ '?"

A soft meowing was audible from under Changbin's coat. He opened it, and the black cat emerged and climbed onto Changbin's shoulders.

Felix laughed tauntingly. "Your cat's not wild. He's a wuss-puss!" The cat glared at Felix angrily.

"What? He hates to get his feet wet. Geez." Changbin stroked the cat's back.

Felix sighed. "Well, I'm gonna call you Changbin because 'Binnie' seems too soft." Changbin shrugged as the cat jumped off his shoulders and walked up a tree leading to the roof of the house. "So that doll," Felix continued. "Did  _you_ make it look like me?"

"No; I found it that way. It's older than my aunt. Well maybe as old as this house probably."

"C'mon... my hair, my shoes, my raincoat, exactly?"

Changbin stood excitedly as he presented a worm to Felix. "Dang, check this out!"

Felix was  _not_ impressed. "You're literally  _older_ than me. Why are you excited about these types of things? Anyways, you're just like them."

"Huh?" Binnie tossed the worm to the side and picked up his camera.

"I meant Chan and Woojin. They're too busy that they don't even listen to me either."

"Uh huh. You mind?" Changbin handed his camera to Felix. Felix acted put out, but he took a shot anyway. Changbin went into a bunch of cutesy poses and  _maybe he was kinda soft_. Felix couldn't help but laugh.

Changbin took the camera from Felix, lowered his head, thoughtful, and then glanced up past Felix at the house. Sighing, he spoke in a sad tone. "You know, I've never been inside the Pink Palace."

Felix was skeptical. "You're kidding."

"My aunt would kill me. She thinks it's dangerous or something."

"Dangerous?"

"Well... she had three sons- my cousins."

"So?"

"Ten years ago, when all four of us were seven or eight years old, my cousins- all three disappeared. My aunt says that they were stolen."

Above from the rooftop, the black cat spotted Coraline's doll looking out the window, seeming like it was spying on things.

Felix tilted his head. "Well, what do  _you_ think?"

"Uh, I-I don't know." Binnie went astride his electric bike, whistled, and the black cat came down from the rooftop and onto his shoulders. "Maybe they just ran away?"

A voice called, agitated. "Changbin!" Changbin looked down:  _he's said too much._

Changbin began pulling away. "Look, I gotta go."

"Wait a minute!"

And he was gone.

* * *

It was night, and the doll sat back in the chair by the bed. Felix took some yellow cheese from his pocket and put it by his door: mice bait. He lied down and his breathing slowed, the doll watching him with a nearly imperceptible smile on its face.  _t-t-t-t-t-t-t..._ Felix sat up, looked towards the door, and spotted a couple of kangaroo mice stealing the last bit of cheese.

He gave chase after the mice, hopping down the stairs with the cheese. He followed the kangaroo mice directly to the little door where they entered through a crack and disappeared. Felix pulled the door open; bricks gone, tunnel revealed. He didn't hesitate this time to crawl through the door.

Felix entered the Other Kitchen to find the other Chan preparing a delicious breakfast. He looked more handsome tonight; his hair shining, cheeks rosy, shoulders seemingly broader. He stopped humming a lullaby to greet Felix. "Welcome back, Felix."

"Hi."

The other Chan grated yellow cheese into the scrambled eggs. "So thoughtful of you to send this cheddar, Felix."

"Cheddar? Oh... the mice... bait..."

"Would you go and get Woojin please?" He beamed at Felix. "Bet he's as hungry as a  _pumpkin_ by now!"

Felix shivered a tiny bit. "You mean the other Woojin?"

"The  _better_ Woojin, Fe. He's out in the garden."

"But the real Chan and Woojin don't have time to garden." Felix shook his head, shrugged, and started for the door.

Looking out, Felix saw the broken-down garden from the real world, still gray and lifeless in the dim light. He opened the gate to the garden. A large crescent moon rose, and things started to grow. Two dead shrubs began to rise, then blossom, and then the blossoms themselves were lit up by some gold and amber hummingbirds. The hummingbirds circled Felix, lighting up his dragonfly necklace, and then continued on, lighting up pitcher plants that had grown in a nearby flower bed. A beautiful frog poked out of one blossom. The birds led Felix up steps past a stone wall where bleeding heart plants grew, and glowed, and beat.

Felix spotted the other Woojin, riding a praying mantis tractor on the hillside, planting seeds that instantly grew into flowering plants. Other Woojin waved. "Hey!" 

Felix smiled. "I love your garden!"

" _Our_ garden, Felix!" Woojin gunned the tractor full-speed over a little bridge, grabbed a gourd trumpet from a vine, and blew it. Jack-o-lanterns surfaced in the ponds below, and spouted streams of water. Arriving beside Felix, Woojin swooped down by some moving snapdragons, deftly cut them into a bouquet, and presented them to Felix.  _Everything about this world was so much charming to him..._

Felix nodded thanks to Woojin. "Well, Chan says it's time for dinner... breakfast...  _food?_ "

"Hop on, Fe, I want to show you something!" Woojin helped Felix onto the mechanical mantis. Grabbing the gearshift knob, he pulled it and the mantis sprouted wins. The rose into the air, and looking down, Felix noticed something.  _The hair... the eyes... the facial structure..._ Felix saw that the garden was a portrait of  _himself_.

"I can't believe you did this!"

"Chan said that you'd like it! Dude, he knows you like the back of his hand."

* * *

Felix didn't hold back this time. He stacked sausages on eggs on top of waffles, rolled it up, and stuffed it into his mouth. The other Chan fed bits of sausage to the hungry snapdragons bouquet now in a vase.

"Mmm, it looks so  _good_!"

Woojin nodded approvingly. "I  _love_ dinner, breakfast food!"

"Felix, Mr. Park has invited you to come to see the Jumping Mice perform after dinner." Chan turned to Felix, leaning his head on his hand.

"Really. That know-it-all Binnie said it was all in Mr. P's head, I knew he was wrong," Felix mumbled between bites.

Woojin sliced off a large piece of chicken. "Well, everything's right in  _this_ world, Felix."

Felix rushed to shovel in the rest of his meal, while the other Chan and the other Woojin smile at one another.

"Wooj and I will clean up while you and your friend head upstairs."

Felix looked confusedly at the other Chan. "My  _friend_?"

There was a knock at the door. The other Chan opened it to reveal the  _other Changbin._ He's cleaner, _cuter_ , with better posture, and button eyes.

"Great... another Changbin. Hello,  _trash bin_." 

Changbin nodded, button eyes shining.

"Hello?"

He just made a shy smile, not answering. Felix was confused.

Chan shrugged. "I thought you'd like him more if he spoke a little less.  _So I fixed him._ "

"So he can't talk at all?"

"Nope."

Chan looked at the other Changbin appreciatively.

Felix nodded. "Hmm, I like it."

"Now run along, you two, and have fun."

* * *

The Other House, lit by amber spotlights looked  _magical_ with ornate gingerbread trim; glowing topiary in the yard. Changbin and Felix came out the front door.

"You're awful cheerful, considering you can't say anything."

The other Changbin nodded in agreement. Felix and he started up the stairs to Mr. Park's.

"Uh... It didn't hurt, did it when she..." Felix pointed towards Changbin's mouth, but he pointed past her excitedly: a small blimp was flying towards Mr. Park's door. They ran up the stairs and watched it slip through an opening above his door. Felix knocked and the door suddenly spun, throwing Changbin and Felix inside. Sitting up, they see an amazing miniature circus set up, with a Ferris wheel beside it down two rows of small cannons that faced each other.

"This is  _so_ cool." Felix went right to the Ferris wheel where a mechanical chicken ate dried corn on the cob, fired up its belly, and "pooped" out popcorn into paper bags. The other Binnie stomped a firing button and cotton candy shot out of a cannon. He caught the cone and then started firing off all the cannons. Felix looked back to find Changbin covered in the cotton candy.

"Look at you!" Spotlights came on in the big top and the entrance opened.

A big voice was heard over loudspeakers. "Gentlemen! For to tickle your eyes and ears and making hearts to thump, I -  _The Amazing Mr. Park_ \- am introducing..."

Felix and Changbin raced to the entrance, stooping down to crawl inside.

"... my as- _tound_ -ishing, stu- _pen_ -dulous and  _AH-MAZING_ Jumping Mouse Circus!"

They sat between miniature grandstands and watched as the little blimp, bathed in spotlights, entered through a clap. It circled around, rising to the top of the tent, and then nose-dived towards the ground. It crashed in the center of the circus ring, and opened like a flower from which 50 jumping mice sprung up like acrobats to spell out " _FELIX"._

"My name!"

The jumping mice lept to the ground in a formation, brandished tiny instruments, and drummers started pounding. The drum major mouse parachuted down and whipped out a baton. On his signal, the group launched into a wild circus march. 

Felix, grinning, turned to the other Changbin. "It's wonderful, Binnie!" Changbin smiled and nodded to the beat of the bass drums as the hopping band marched in and out of the ever-changing formations - Pinwheels, X's, circles within circles. The hoppers began to spiral to the center of the circus ring when the floor rose up from its center to form a six-foot tower, the mice hopping to the top. The drum major balanced on the top of a colorful circus ball. He then ran the ball down and around the spiral as the mice hopped off, and when he hits the ground, the tower dropped away to reveal the other Mr. Park. He cracked a whip. Felix and the other Changbin stood and clapped. The other Mr. P - in a ringmaster's outfit with a full-length cape - bowed graciously, doffing his tall black hat, his eyes black buttons.

Felix clapped as loud as he could. "Yeah, whoo-ooh! That was great!"

"Very very thank you, gentlemen!" On cue, the entire jumping mice band disappeared into other Mr. P's sleeves while the drum major swung up from the man's shoulders and onto his head, where he's quickly hidden by the tall black hat.

Felix smiled brightly. "We loved it, Mr. P. It was... so... so-"

"Ahhhh-" Mr. P coached.

"A-mazing!"

"You are very welcome anytime you like, you and also your good friend there."

Felix happily turned to the other Changbin, beaming with joy.

* * *

The other Chan sat back in the bedside chair. The other Woojin, close by, pulled a cotton candy cone off the other Changbin, and munched it. The other Chan and other Woojin smiled warmly, _knowing something secret that made them glad._

* * *

Felix awoke once again in his own bed in the real world, the little doll on the chair now clutched against his chest.

"Ughhh." His gaze moved from he doll to where he left the cheese by the door. It's gone. This is  _much_ too confusing.

* * *

Felix tried the small door in the corner wall. It's locked.  _What the heck?_

* * *

Felix, Chan, and Woojin were finally out of the house, in the car pulling up to the front of "Northwest Garden" headquarters.

"... there were garden squash like balloon animals  _and_ snapdragons..." Felix continued from the back seat as Chan and Woojin reviewed their work pages. "Oh, and upstairs I saw a  _real_ mouse circus, not pretend like the crazy man's in our house." Chan and Woojin, preoccupied, ignore him.

Woojin turned to Chan. "You sure you won't come?"

Chan nodded. "It's okay, Wooj. They'll love the new catalog. At least, they'll love  _our_ chapters." Chan looked back at Felix. "Fe, I did not call him crazy. He's probably drunk."

"See you later, Felix." Woojin hopped out of the car, and Chan and Felix drove off.

* * *

A clothing sale. Felix walked up to Chan, showing him colorful gloves. 

"Put them back, Felix."

"But Chan, the whole school's gonna wear boring gray clothes. No one will have these, and my parents aren't here to lend me some money. I don't even have a part-time  _job_ here yet."

"Put them back."

Felix muttered. "The  _other_ Chan would get them for me."

"Well, maybe he should buy  _all_ your clothes." Chan and Felix walked up as the salesperson began scanning the clothes that Chan had chosen out. 

Felix looked at Chan. "So what do  _you_ think's in the other apartment?"

"I don't know. Not a family of imposters, that's for sure."

"Then why'd you lock the door?"

"Oh, I found some rat crap and... I thought you'd feel better if rats were running around everywhere."

"They're jumping mice, Chan! And the dreams aren't dangerous; they're the most fun I've had since I've gotten here."

"Your classes might be fun."

"With those stupid uniforms? Right."

"Had to give it a try."

* * *

Felix helped Chan carry the bags from outside.

Chan sighed. "I have to go food shopping. Woojin's planning something special. Wanna come along, Felix? You can pick out something you like."

Felix plopped down in a chair. "Oh, like  _the gloves_?"

Chan reached out and mussed Felix's hair. "Look, Felix... if things go well today, I promise I'll make it up."

"That's what you always used to say."

Chan rolled his eyes, shaking his head, and opened the door to leave. "Won't be long."

"But I might be..." Felix mumbled, too late for Chan to hear him for he was already out the door. Felix jumped up towards the key drawer, looking for the small black key. Not there. He looked around and then spotted it hanging on a hook above a door. He stood on a chair and snagged it.

He stooped in front of the small door and pushed the key into the keyhole and unlocked the door. He tried listening for Chan's car. Nothing. Grasping the key between thumb and forefinger, he closed his eyes and pulled the door open.

A soft breeze moved through his hair. He knew before his eyes opened that the bricks were gone.

"I  _knew_ it was real!" He opened his eyes, smiling, and he crawled forward. From afar, the black cat, perched on the wet window sill, observed Felix as he disappeared into the tunnel. With a look of concern, he walked off.

* * *

Lunch was ready and waiting for him: foot-long hot dogs with relish; grilled cheese sandwiches with gherkins; curly-fries; piles of coleslaw and potato salad; five flavors of soda-pop; foods that Felix would never have thought of eating once again in Korea. There was a note attached to a gift-wrapped box:

_Dearest Felix,_

_Minho and Hyunjin have invited you downstairs after lunch. I hope you like the new outfit I made you! Love, Chan._

Felix tore open the box and found a pair of beautiful blue boots, black corduroy jeans, and a metallic gray sweater with twinkling stars. He held up the sweater to his body, smiled, and then put down the clothes and dug into his lunch.

* * *

Felix, dressed in his new clothes, stepped onto the front porch.  _It was always nighttime in this world..._

A cat meows. Felix looked up to see a black cat on the porch roof above him. 

Felix rose his brows, studying the animal for a moment. "Hmmm... Changbin's got a cat like you at home. Not the quiet Changbin; the one that talks too much. You must be the  _Other_ Cat." The cat leaped down and landed on the railing by the basement stairs.

The cat shook his head. "No. I'm not the other anything. I'm me." He tipped his head to one side, opal blue eyes glinting. Felix was surprised.

"Um... I can see that you don't have button eyes. But if you're the same cat, how can you talk?"

The cat shrugged from the tip of his tail to his whiskers. "I just can." He lept smoothly from the railing and onto a large, fallen tree.

"Cats don't talk at home," Felix spoke.

"No?"

"Nope." 

Climbing up the tree's upended roots, the cat held his head high and proud. "Well, you're clearly the expert on these things. After all, I'm just a  _big, fat wuss puss._ "

Felix pouted. "Come back. Please? I... I'm sorry I called you that, I really am." He forced himself to be polite. "How'd you get here?"

The cat pawed at the tree. " _I've_ been coming here for a while." Disappearing behind one thick root that stuck up, the cat reappeared from a large knothole beside Felix, startling him. "It's a game we play.  _He..._ hates cats and tries to keep me out. But he can't of course." He poked his head down into the knothole, and then popped it up out of another knothole, ten feet away. "I come and go as I please."

Felix was skeptical again. "The other Chan hates cats?"

"Not like any 'friend'  _I've_ ever known."

"What do you mean? The other Chan is amazing!"

The cat climbed the tree's branches onto the roof. "You probably think that this world is a dream come true. But you're wrong. The other Changbin told me so."

"That's nonsense. He can't talk."

The cat looked at Felix, pitying his lack of intelligence. "Perhaps not to  _you._ We cats, however, have far superior senses than humans and can see and smell, and -" Suddenly, the cat drops into a crouch and freezes, sensing something. "Shhhh! I hear something! Right... over..." The cat scrambled across the roof and disappeared around the corner. Felix shrugged, skeptical, and headed down to Minho and Hyunjin's, their door now circled with chaser lights. He pushed past elegant velvet curtains to discover an enormous, darkened theater with dim rows of seats and a high wooden stage. A flashlight came towards him, carried by a small terrier with button eyes. He looked up at Felix, sniffing, and then led her down the aisle past rows and rows of button-eyed terriers, to a front seat by the Other Binnie. Felix squeezed his arm, hello, and he looked back warmly.

"Hey, Binnie." Lights flashed, the audience quieted, then the curtains opened on a seaside setting with rotating waves. Other Hyunjin rose up on stage left, dark blue dyed hair, an ocean blue flannel, button eyes, beginning to dance.

" _I'm known as the triton of all seven seas_

_The breaker of hearts by the day"_

Hyunjin's moves were enchanting, and his expression represented the years of passion engraved into his talent and mind. A flat cut-out ship manned by cut-out men rowed in behind him.

" _So, if you go swimmin'_

_With bow-legged women,_

_I might steal your weak heart away"_

He nodded his head and the audience of dogs thumped their tails. Hyunjin was lowered through the stage floor, the scenery changed, and on the right, a huge scallop shell rose up with the other Minho, unique seaweed green hair, a slightly sheer top, button eyes, also beginning to dance. He was facing the wrong way. A dog barked in the audience, alerting him to turn the correct direction, beginning the next verse.

" _A talented sea wizard may bob through the waves,_

_And hope to lead sailors astray,_

_But a true ocean god,_

_Could flaunt out his bod,_

_To present an alluring display"_

The dogs thumped and woofed, and Changbin and Felix clapped.

Hyunjin, furious at the greater reaction, got back in the competition. As he rose up, he made it clear just who he was dissing. 

" _Beware of old oysters, too large in their ego,_

_Let's banish them from the buffet"_

But Minho was up to the challenge - the scenery started the change faster and faster as the performers rose up and down, competing.

" _I'm far more nutritious"_

" _You smell like the fishes"_

" _Did I hear a banshee?"_

"You're sea-green with envy!"

The set rigging couldn't take it anymore; ropes snapped, sandbags swung, and scenery began to fall. With a crash, the two of them tumbled down in a pile. Felix winced. The audience howled with laughter as the curtains closed on the disaster.  _Drum roll._ A terrier dog pushed a large bucket of water, labeled "POOL", onto center stage. Spotlights tilted up to the top of very tall diving platforms where the other Minho and other Hyunjin stood. 

Minho smiled. "Ready to break a leg, Hyunjin?"

"Our lives for the stage, Minho!"

They began to bounce on the diving boards and then leaped to catch matching trapeze bars that swung into place. Felix laughed with relief and amazement, the other Changbin pleased. The dogs woofed, music began, and the two boys - eyes bright buttons, matching pink and green silk sheer shirts - swung out over the stage.

" _What a piece of work is man!_

_How noble in reason!"_

They flew past each other on their trapezes, doubled up, and caught one another hand to ankle. Felix's eyes brushed past a large pearl ring on Minho's finger. 

" _How infinite in faculty!_

_In form and moving how express and admirable!"_

In a sudden change of direction, they swung out over the audience, trapeze bar lowered, and they pulled Felix into the air. He hollered, terrified. They tossed him one to the other, flipping and spinning, as they continued their lines. His screams became cries of exhilaration.

" _In action like an angel!"_

" _In apprehension how like a god!"_

" _The beauty of the world!"_

" _The paragon of animals!"_

The other Minho and Hyunjin tossed Felix up into the air and jack-knife dived into the large bucket below. They rose up, unhurt, just in time to catch Felix. The three bow to thunderous thumping applause and Changbin threw Felix a red, beautiful rose.

* * *

The other Changbin escorted Felix up to the stone stairs from Minho and Hyunjin's apartment. The other Chan and other Woojin, a huge, full moon rising behind them, waited at the top of the stairs.

"Hey there," Woojin waved.

The other Chan ruffled Felix's hair. "Was it wonderful, Fe?" Other Chan's hair looked absolutely beautiful, and the other Woojin dapper. Felix shook with excitement as they walked toward the front porch. The other Changbin held back, losing his smile.

"Oh yeah. They swooped down and pulled me right out of my seat - Minho and Hyunjin. But then, I was flying through the air and... it was, it was  _magic_ ," Felix described.

They walked up the front steps before the other Chan smiled slightly eerily. "You  _do_ like it here, don't you, Felix?"

"Uh huh. Good night, Binnie." Felix turned back, waving to Changbin. The other Woojin took Felix inside. Changbin, at the bottom of the steps, looked guilty and sad. The other Chan glared at him, making a huge, false smile then pointed to him. Changbin just lowered his head.

Back inside the house, Chan caught up to Felix. "You  _could_ stay here forever... if you want to."

"Really?"

Woojin butted in. "Sure... we'll sing and play games, and Chan will cook your favorite meals. We will be like the perfect group of friends that everyone  _envies_."

Other Chan rested his hand on Felix's shoulder. "There's one tiny little thing that we need to do."

"What's that?"

"Well, it's a surprise."

Felix was seated in his place at the dining room. Chan placed a small box with a bow in front of him and took his seat along with the other Woojin. Felix excitedly removed the lid.

Chan smiled. "For you...  _our little doll of a friend."_

The "surprise" was a spool of black thread, a silver needle, and a pair of shiny black buttons - for  _Felix's eyes._ Felix gasped. He looked up at the other Woojin and other Chan, hoping that it was a bad joke.

The other Chan simply grinned. "Black  _is_ traditional, but if you'd prefer pink or vermillion or chartreuse..."

Felix saw their button eyes changing colors, and he grew ever more panicked.

"... though you might make me jealous."

Felix batted the box away, and his hands flew to his face, covering his eyes. "No way! You're not sewing buttons in my eyes!"

Chan tapped his fingers. "Oh, but we need a  _yes_... if you want to stay here."

The other Woojin tested the needle on his finger enthusiastically. "So sharp you won't feel a thi -  _oww!_ " Chan kicked him under the table. Embarrassed, he placed the needle back into the box.

Chan rested his head on his hand, leaning on the table once again. "There now; it's your decision, Felix.  _We_ only want what's best for our  _dear friend._ " He walked over and placed his hand, now icy cold, on Felix's shoulder.

Felix quickly pushed Chan's hand away and stood up. "I'm... I'm going to bed! Right now!"

Chan acted wounded. "Bed?"

Woojin tilted his head. "Before dinner?"

Felix fought to control his quaking voice. "I'm  _really, really_ tired. Yeah... I just need to  _sleep_ on things."

Other Chan stood up, masking disappointment. "Well of course you do, Felix. I can come to you to your room."

Felix backed away, urging them to stay where they were. "Oh, no thanks, uh, you-you've done so much already -" He turned to leave and found the other Chan blocking the doorway. Other Woojin joined him.

Chan placed his arm around Woojin. "You're welcome, Felix. And I -  _we_ , aren't worried at all, Felix. Soon you'll see things  _our_ way." He let go, and he and the other Woojin herded Felix across the hallway to the stairs. He carefully climbed the stairs, the other two watching. When they were no longer able to see Felix, he raced up the last steps and dashed to his Other Bedroom. He shut the door and was quickly surrounded by fluttering dragonflies.

"What's wrong, Felix? Don't you want to play?" The dragonflies' voices were echoey and high-pitched. Felix jumped up and caught the paper creatures, opened the toy chest, and tossed them in. The plush blue squid greeted him from the shelf, followed by the toy tank giraffe. Before they got a chance to say any more, Felix grabbed them both and dropped them in the toy chest.

His photo friends from Sydney, now with black buttons for eyes, called out from the photo by his bed. "Hey!" "Where's ya buttons, mate?" "You wanna stay, don'tcha?" Felix grabbed them as well, dropping them into the chest, and he shut the lid. He barricaded the door with a dresser and chairs and then the toy chest.

Felix sat on the bed, pulling off them blue boots. "I'm going home tonight,  _robots_ \- and I won't be back." Felix climbed under the covers quickly, pulling them over his head and holding tight. He hugs himself to stop shaking, knowing that he must fall asleep in this bed to wake up in his real bed at home. He closed his eyes and told himself: " _Go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep!"_ he tossed one way, then another. There were strange, backwards sounds, then the eerie voices of other Chan and other Woojin replaying in Felix's mind.

_"There's just one tiny little thing we have to do."_

_"So sharp you won't feel a thing..."_

_"Soon you'll see things our way..."_

Felix fidgeted and turned and turned again, but sleep  _finally_ wrapped him and took him into oblivion.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


	4. three: || action ||

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again! Some of you guys might be asking if this will just be a rewritten version of the original Coraline story. The answer is yes and no; This will basically be a rewritten version towards the end of the story, but it still maintains the basic plotline with a different ending. Anyways, please enjoy!

Felix awoke by the light. With a hopeful look, he called out, pulling back the covers. "Chan! Woojin!" His smile turned to shock; there was a bright, full moon in his window and it was  _still_ nighttime in the other world.

"Oh God, I'm still here?"

Felix raced downstairs to the Other Living Room, but it was locked tight. He pulled at the handles, planted a foot, and tried with all his might. But it was no use. He stopped panting and then heard a piano note being hit  _over and over._  

Felix opened the door of the Other Woojin's study, and he found him sitting at the piano, his back to him, hitting the note.

Felix spoke in his bravest voice. "Hey, you! Where's the Other Chan! I want to go home."

The other Woojin turned around. He looked ill; his hair messed up, his skin pale, and his gaze like ice. He spoke, his voice slowed-down. "All will be well, soon as Chan's refreshed. His strength is our strength." The white-gloved hands pop out from the piano. One covers his mouth, and the other wags a finger in his face. "Musn't talk when Chan's not here."

Felix turned to go. "If you won't even talk to me, I'm gonna find the Other Changbin. He'll help me."

"No point; he pulled a long face..." Woojin pulled down the corners of his mouth eerily. "... and Chan didn't like it." The piano hands popped out again, aggressively shutting his mouth and spinning him away from Felix. Frightened, Felix ran to the door that led outside and pulled it open. He ran out the back porch, towards the Other Garden.  _He needed to find the other Changbin. Or the cat. Or anyone._ Felix crossed the trail, the Other House in the distance. He ran past trees that were lush with green leaves and ripe red fruit. He was panting hard and had to slow down to a fast walk. The further he went, the less tree-like the fruit trees became. Felix heard the cat  _meow_ , and he looked down, extremely relieved.

The cat trotted along by Felix's feet. "And what do you think you're doing?"

"Well, I'm getting out of here. That's what  _I'm_ doing." The sky started to brighten and the apple trees became wire-thin shapes of trees. "Huh? Something's wrong. Shouldn't the old well be here?" The remnants of the trees and the sky and the ground give way to a pale, empty nothingness. No grounds, and no shadows.

The cat kept looking straight ahead. "Nothing out here... it's the empty part of this world. The other Chan only made what he knew would impress you."

"But why? Why does he want  _me_?" Felix and the cat walked over the horizon.

"He wants something to love, I think. Something that isn't her... or maybe he'd love something to eat."

"Eat? That's ridiculous."

A shape rose in front of them in the whiteness and became the beautiful Other House. Felix and the cat slowed, then the front yard and topiary, the sky, hills, white gravel drove and the poplar trees behind them filled in.

Felix looked around. "Huh? But how can you walk away from something and still come back to it?"

"Walk around the world." The cat curled its tail into a question mark and tipped its head to one side.

"Small world." Felix shivered.

The cat suddenly tensed, focusing on a shrub. "Hang on." He bounded towards the shrub and chased out a cute kangaroo mouse in uniform with a tiny trumpet. Before Felix could blink, the mouse was pinned down.

"Stop, he's one of the circus mice!" Felix's eyes widened as the cat knocked the mouse into the air with a swift blow of its paw, and caught it in his mouth. The cat gave a quick, killing bite as Felix gasped, and the mouse transformed into a big, dead rat. Felix was stunned.

The cat dropped the rat on the ground. "I don't like rats at the best of times, but  _this_ one was sounding an alarm." The cat picked the rat up and headed off.

Slack-jawed, Felix spoke with admiration. "Good kitty." Felix turned and looked to the house with a determined look. On the porch, he took out a heavy cane from the umbrella stand and hit it into his hand. 

Felix, now standing in front of the living room doors, tested the cane in his hands, and peered down the hall for danger. It's dead quiet -  no piano, no sounds of anything. He jammed the cane through the doors' handles and pulled with all his might. One handle and lock broke, and the doors swung open into the pitch black living room. The hall light cast a narrow path directly to the Other Little Door on the far wall, cracked open. He stepped into the room.

A huge armoire bug suddenly crab-stepped in Felix's path, blocking the little door, and all around him, things started to glow. The room had been transformed into an amazing  _bug museum_ , with all sorts of glowing, living specimens in the place of the old furniture and furnishings. 

The other Chan spoke out, startling Felix. "They say even the proudest spirit can be broken..." The sofa, now a large bug, turned in place to reveal him sitting on it. " _with love._ " He was all smiles, button eyes shining, one hand held out in a  _"behold my handiwork"_ gesture. A bug chair scooped Felix up and brought him to the other Chan. Chan took a candy dish from the servant bug. "Of course, chocolate never hurts. Like one?" Felix scowled as he watched the other Chan eat the first thing that he had ever seen him eat.

Felix struggled to keep his voice from shaking. "I want to be with the  _real_ Chan and Woojin. I want you to  _let me go_."

The other Chan frowned, swallowing. He spoke with a frightening steeliness in his voice. "Is that any way to talk to your friend? Wow, Fe, that  _hurt_."

Felix was mad, and feeling mad made him brave. " _You aren't my friend._ "

The other Chan straightened, his button eyes, now almost  _dead_ -like, stare into Felix's eyes. "Apologize to me, Felix."

Felix stared right back, not blinking. "No."

"I'll give you to the count of three. One..." 

The other Chan stood up, growing taller.

"...two..."

He grew taller, still, and scarier like a model on steroids.

"... _three!_ "

The other Chan grabbed Felix by his hair and dragged him to the hallway. "Ow! What are you doing?" He pulled Felix down the hallway to the mirror at the end. Felix flailed at the other Chan with his fist. "Ow, that hurts!" Felix yelled. Other Chan shoved Felix right through the mirror as if it was water.

Felix hit the ground,  _hard,_ before he could process what was going on in his head. The other Chan, head thrust through the mirror, stared down at Felix angrily. "You may come out when you've learned to be a  _true_ friend!" He pulled his head out, leaving Felix in darkness. Felix pounded on the mirror-door, kicking it with his boots. A sob welled up in his throat.

And then he heard a soft,  _ghostly_ voice. 

Felix turned. He could just make out a sagging iron bed. When the voice spoke, there was a faint glow from beneath its stained cover. 

"Who's there?" Felix called out, frightened.

" _Hush! And shush! For the Belsire might be listening!_ " The voice whispered. Felix stepped toward the bed, the faint glow from under the covers in sync with the words he heard.

Felix whispered back. "You... you mean the other Chan?" He gently pulled back the sheets. The dimly glowing ghosts of three boys, button eyes, sit up: three matching name tags, that looked like they were written a decade ago. The first ghost, emotional, had a name tag reading "Han Jisung"; the second had an abandoned look, name tag reading "Kim Seungmin"; the last, a boy with a stern, sad expression, a name tag reading "Yang Jeongin".

"Who are you?" Felix asked.

Seungmin's ghost sat up slowly. " _We only remember our names, and that we don't belong here_." Jisung gripped onto the iron bars of the bed. Jeongin moved towards Felix. He was so sad that Felix took his cold hand and squeezed it. 

"Why are you all here?" Felix questioned, flinching from the coldness of Jeongin's hand.

" _The beldam_!" The ghosts moved about in a dance macabre, like ghostly fish in water.

" _He spied on our lives, through the little doll's eyes,_ "

" _And saw that we weren't happy._ "

" _So he lured us away,_ "

" _with treasures and treats,"_

" _and games to play!_ "

" _Gave all that we asked -_ "

" _yet we still wanted more -"_

" _So we let him sew the buttons._ "

" _He said that he loved us,_ "

" _But he locked us here_ "

" _And ate up our lives._ "

The ghosts fell back into their bed and sunk down. Felix was stunned. He thought a little and then spoke, trying to steady his voice.

"Well, he can't keep me in the dark forever. Beating him is my only chance."

A beat. Then the Jisung boy asked in his sing-song way: " _Perhaps, if you do win your escape, you could find our eyes?_ " 

Felix glanced at the button eyes sewn in the sockets of the ghosts. "Has she taken those, too?"

"Yes, and hidden them." Jeongin looked down, sorrowfully.

Seungmin was the last to speak. "Find our eyes, and we might have a second chance to live."

"I... I'll try." The ghosts pulsed with hope. Felix sat down against the mirror door, bouncing his head against it. He's not hopeless.

Suddenly, hands reached through the mirror and pulled him out. He grabbed one of the hands, blood rushing through his veins, flipping his masked attacker on the ground. He pulled of the mask: it was the other Changbin, his mouth stitched into a painful, ear to ear smile.

"Changbin?..." Felix pulled Changbin up into a sitting position. "Did  _he_ do this to you?" He reached up and unstitched his Changbin's painfully-huge grin. "I hope that feels bet-"

"Shh." The other Changbin stopped him with a finger to his lips, and pointed to the Other Living Room, its door unlocked and open. He grabbed his hand and pulled him there. It's dark, the bug furniture asleep. They ran to the big armoire bug that guarded the little door and shoved it out of the way. It crashed to the floor, and from upstairs, a voice called out.

"Felix? Is that you?"

Felix pulled the other Binnie's arm. "Let's go!" He opened the little door, and a cold wind blew from the dark passageway, now filled with spider webs and the shoes, coats, and hats of the other kids who tried to escape.

"Felix..." the voice called again.

Felix grabbed onto the other Changbin's arm a second time. "Come on. He'll hurt you again!"

Changbin shook his head no, then pulled off his glove to reveal a hand made of sawdust. He blew his fingers away. 

The voice called, coming closer. "Felix?" The tunnel moved at the sound of his voice. The other Changbin shoved Felix into the tunnel and shut the door. 

Hunched down, Felix moved as quickly as he could, tearing through the sticky cobwebs.

"Felix!" the other Chan called after him.

Strands of web brushed Felix's face as he crawled, sticking to his hair; he closed his eyes, hands out until he finally got to the little door at the other end. He dived, tucked, and rolled out onto the real living room floor. He slammed the door shut and turned the sharp little key - still in the keyhole - to lock it. He stood, covered in dust and cobwebs, and called out with joy and relief. 

"I'm home!" He went quickly through the apartment, happily calling. "Anybody here? Hello, hello hello! Real Woojin! ... Real Chan! ... ooh, Chan's groceries!" There were bags of groceries on the table as if Chan had just gotten in. He pulled a bag to peek and fruit flies shot out. The food was spoiled. "Uhhh. That's disgusting."

The doorbell rung. He ran excitedly to the door and flung it open. "I missed you guys  _so much_ \- You'll never -"

But it was just Binnie, the real boy.

"Oh... the Binnie that talks..."

Changbin waved, face down, awkward. "Huh? Ha ha ha... yeah... um, so you know th-that old doll I gave you?" Felix tensed, a sharp breath, as Changbin continued. "Um, my aunt is really mad, and she says it was similar to the ones that her sons - my cousins - had that... disappeared?"

Felix read Changbin like a book. "You  _stole_ that doll, didn't you?" Felix realized.

Binnie answered guiltily. "Well, i-it looked just  _like_ you. And I figured-"

Felix, rushing with the words, told him the truth. "It  _used_ to look like this emotional Jisung boy; then abandoned Jeongin; then it was this really sad dude with cold hands named Jeongin and..." His voice trailed off. Felix studied Wybie, then snapped his fingers. "Your cousins! I think I just met them. C'mon!" Felix pulled him inside and dragged him down the hall.

Changbin stuttered, letting Felix drag him through the Pink Palace. "Uh, listen, I-I-I'm really not supposed to-" Felix walked him to the little door in the corner wall and pointed. Changbin looked around anxiously, fearful and curious to be in his aunt's old house.

"They're in there," Felix tilted his head towards the door.

Reluctantly, Changbin bent down and reached for the key in the lock. "C-can you - can you  _unlock_ it?"

Felix grabbed his hand, stopping him. "Not in a million years. But it wouldn't matter; he can't escape without his eyes. None of the ghosts can." Binnie stared at him, nodding his head as if he understood his crazy story.

He changed the subject, getting back to his mission. "Huhhh... so, huh, I really need to get that doll?"

Felix snapped at him. " _Great!_ I'd  _love_ to get rid of it." He exhaled in a huff. Grabbing his sleeve, Felix led Changbin out of the room.

The doll wasn't on Felix's bed, not on the chairs or moving boxes.

"Where are you hiding, you little monster?!" Felix called.

Changbin nervously watched Felix pull out his dresser drawers, yanking cushions off the window seat. "Y-you are my aunt have been talking?"

"The doll's the belsire's spy! It's how he  _watches_ you, finds out what's  _wrong_ with your life!"

Changbin, trapped like a deer-in-the-headights, tried to make sense of Felix's remarks. "What's a... belsire?"

"THe other Chan! He's got this whole world where everything's better - the food, the garden, the-  _neighbors_... but it's all a trap!"

Changbin, eager to escape, cupped his hands to his ear by the window. "Yeah... uh, I think I heard someone calling me, Felix."

Felix looked right through him. "Don't  _believe_ me?... You can ask the cat!"

Changbin didn't know whether to stay or to leave. "Are you on... something?"

"No!" Felix yelled, tears filling his eyes. "No one's listening to me!" Changbin twisted the knob of Felix's door. "No, wait, please..." 

Changbin sighed, placing his hands on his hips and looking down at Felix, who had sunk down onto his knees, looking at his hands in a crazed expression. "I'm bringing you to go get some help."

"No thank you. Just- just hear me out, okay? I trust you." Felix grabbed Changbin's hand, bringing him outside the Pink Palace. Changbin watched as Felix spotted a car parked to the side.

"Chan! Woojin!" Excited, Felix hopped over the fallen tree and ran to the car, Changbin trailing behind him. Felix, standing in the rain, excitedly looked through the car's window, but the car was empty. He spotted Chan's phone, then opened the door to grab it and speed dial a number. "Pick it up, Woojin, pick it up."

" _Hi!_ "

"Woojin! Wh-"

" _I'm working on my_ computer _right now, but leave a message and I'll get right back to you."_ Felix dejectedly looked at the phone, then snapped it shut.

"Where have you gone?"

Changbin looked toward Felix. "Your housemates have gone missing?" Changbin took Felix's hand and squeezed it reassuringly as Felix began crying, wiping his tears ashamedly. "That makes sense why you're all crazy like this." Felix had no reaction. "C'mon," Changbin spoke gently. "Let's go find some help."

Evening fell upon the real Hyunjin and Minho's living room, as Changbin and Felix were seated on their couch together, being offered tea as Kami and the other terriers stepped around them. 

Minho called from the hallway. "Hyunjin? Aren't you getting ready?"

Hyunjin sighed, tugging on the collar of his cashmere turtleneck sweater. "We've lost our ride, Minho. Felix says that his housemates, Chan and Woojin, have vanished, quite completely." Hyunjin turned to Felix, and then to Changbin. "And Felix, who's this?"

Changbin held out his hand. "I'm Changbin, Felix's friend. I'm gonna help him find Chan and Woojin."

"Ahh, okay. I'm Hyunjin, and I perform around with Minho. Nice to meet you." They shook hands.

"What?!" Minho called from behind a screen. "We've waited months for those tickets! I suppose we could walk!"

"It's two miles to the theater, Minho! We need to save our legs for future performances."

Felix cleared his throat, frustrated. 

Hyunjin shook his head, looking back to Felix and Changbin. "Oh, oh yes... Chan and Woojin. We know just what you need. Minho, get... that's right." Minho grabbed another dish of old stuck-together candy and placed it in front of Felix and Changbin.

"How is hundred-year-old candy going to help-"

Hyunjin rose his gold chopsticks as if to stab Felix. Felix yelped, hands up in defense; but it's the candies that Hyunjin attacks, sending sticky chips flying. He pulled a large, three-sided candy with a hole in it from the rubble and passed it to Felix. "There you go." Felix studied the odd candy, Changbin leaning in to inspect it. 

"What's it for?" Changbin took the candy from Felix, looking through the hole at Hyunjin and Minho.

Hyunjin shrugged. "Well, it might help. They're good for bad things, sometimes."

Minho butted in. "No, they're good for lost things."

They don't look any different.

"It's bad things, Minho."

"Lost things,  _Hyunjin_."

"Bad."

"Lost."

"Bad things!"

"Lost."

"Bad."

"Lost."

Felix couldn't take it anymore. He stood up, grabbing Changbin's wrist, taking the odd piece of candy, and leaves.

Changbin followed Felix back into the Pink Palace, making Felix surprised. "Binnie, you sure you want to stay here for the night?"

"I don't want anything to happen to you. You're not vanishing, too... not if I'm here."

Felix, dressed for bed with his blanket over his shoulder, walked into Woojin and Chan's room and laid down next to Changbin, who was laying down flat and staring at the ceiling. "Night, Changbin." Warm tears rolled down his cheeks.

"Good night, Felix." Changbin turned to face Felix, a small pillow in between the two of them. "You okay?"

Felix nodded. He didn't know why he was so weak. 

"No, you're not." Changbin removed the pillow in between the two of them. "Let it out."

"I miss Australia. Everything here is so.. messed up."

"So that's why you keep hallucinating these crazy stories?"

"They're real, Changbin. Real."

"Whatever you say." Changbin yawned, and the two of them drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Felix, asleep. One paw, then two paws bat at his nose. He opens his eyes to find opal blue eyes staring at him. It's the black cat, purring loudly.

"Hello. How did you get in?" Felix asked, waking Changbin to see Felix talking to the cat. The cat yawned, his eyes flashing. "Do you know where Chan and Woojin are?"

The cat blinked and headed out the door, Felix and Changbin both following close behind, hands clasped together.

 


End file.
